Arrivederci Roma
by WeirdVision
Summary: See what happens when Ethan Hunt has to join forces with a team formed by James Bond, Jason Bourne, John Smith, Mr. Smith, Jinx, Vesper Lynd, Wai Lin and Xenia Onatopp. Will Rome survive to this explosive combination? R & R if you like.


**Arrivederci Roma**

After an eventless flight and a smooth landing I was walking inside Fumicino airport on my way to retrieve my luggage. Yep, I had taken Uncle Archie's advice and booked a plane ticket to Rome for the beginning of September. It was going to be a short vacation, just one week, as I didn't dare leave the guys alone for longer than that. This way though I was going to be back in time for my grandmother's name anniversary and my mother's birthday so everything was fine.

I hadn't taken any of the guys with me and I regretted it a little when I got to carry my luggage but the carry on wasn't heavy being packed with light summer clothes. Still, carrying my own bags when I had an army of men at home? That didn't feel right. I looked around discontented and guess who I saw?

"Brian!" I exclaimed surprised to see him in Rome.

There was a one split second hesitation before the Tom Cruise clone easily changed direction and came towards me to greet me. "Hey, Boss…"

"What are you doing here? They sent you to get the Italian wine straight from the source now?" I teased him.

"I'm on vacation." he grinned flashing those sparkling white teeth at me.

"No kidding?!" I looked him up and down. No shirt and tie and the occasional vest, his regular clothes he wore at the bar, but a whole good quality suit and even a briefcase in his hand, and he'd cut his hair shorter than usual. Wow, I almost whistled forgetting for a moment I didn't go for pretty boys. "Just how much are we paying you at the bar that you can afford a vacation in Rome?" I arched an eyebrow at him when I knew damn well how big his paycheck was. Beside the nights spent behind the bar Brian had a private life that he kept to himself, and we all suspected he must be doing some other things too, we just didn't know what that was.

"It's the tips." he winked. Right, in spite of the fact that he'd lost the dexterity to juggle with the bottles after all those years he still prepared fabulous cocktails and he did have a rather charming personality.

His blue eyes glanced around briefly before saying "Are you done here? Let me help you with that…" he reached for my luggage. What did I tell you? "Is that all?"

"Yes." I smiled when he made a face as if he'd expected more.

He walked me outside and we found a cab. "Wanna share the taxi?" I asked him as I slid into the back seat. No, I wasn't going to start anything with him, after all he was my employee, but it seemed polite to offer.

"No, I'm waiting for someone." He shook his head and I had the impression he wasn't too happy about that.

"OK, have a great vacation then… and maybe we'll meet again." I grinned and waved my hand at him.

"Yeah. Bye!" he slammed the door closed a bit too hard.

OOOOO

I looked concentrated over the list with places I wanted to visit and then I tried to locate them on the map spread on the kitchen table. My staying in Rome was supposed to last for seven days, one of them didn't count being assigned to rest and revisit the places I had liked before leaving so that left six days and about 30 places to see. That meant that if I managed to do at least five things a day I was set. As I was trying to find the shortest and most convenient route to fit them all I reached for the glass and grimaced at the taste of pesticide. It was supposed to be orange juice. I put it down and went to the fridge to get some mineral water.

Damn, it was almost noon, I frowned glancing at my watch. I had to get going if I wanted to stick to the schedule. I changed into a pair of knee length light blue jeans, a pair of comfortable white shoes and a white sleeveless top, I checked on my make up, put my passport, credit card, cell phone and some change in my pocket and then I tied a large scarf to my belt to cover my shoulders with it inside the churches I was going to visit. Fetching the keys and the map from the table I was ready to go.

I didn't wait for the ancient elevator to arrive but I walked down the two flights of stairs to the interior yard. The place was clean, with good cars parked near the walls and leaving a large empty space in the middle around the sculpted fountain with cold water murmuring quietly as it ran down into the round basin at the bottom. I put on my sunglasses and I walked out in the street under the burning sun.

OOOOO

While it was well passed noon people were hiding inside Alberto Sordi galleries from the heat outside. I had spent about half an hour in the bookstore at the corner and then reluctantly decided against buying the pile of books I had put aside since it was too early to go back to the apartment and I didn't want to drag them with me all through the city. My feet were hurting and for once not because of the heels cause I didn't wear any so I took a seat at an empty table not far from a kiosk which served all kinds of drinks and I stirred distracted in my frappe with the straw as I watched the people passing by.

"Enjoying the vacation so far?" Brian asked plastering a big smile on his face and forcing himself not to pant like he'd been after a long run.

I blinked startled by his sudden apparition and then I answered "Yeah… it's been good so far." I wondered idly if his presence there meant something in particular or if it was a pure coincidence. "So… have you met the person you were waiting for…" he looked like he had no idea what I was talking about and I added "at the airport?"

"Ah… no, we missed each other. But I'm sure we'll meet again soon." he stated with determination and given his intonation I debated whether that was a good thing or not. He tapped his fingers against the surface of the table impatiently, looked around, and grinned at me. "Have you been to the bookstore?"

"Yes. Too bad most of the books are in Italian." I said with regret. For the art books it was not a problem, but no way I was going to start to read novels in Italian.

"Come on, I'm sure there's something you've missed." He got up quickly and reached for my hand to pull me after him.

"But I've just been there… and I haven't finished my frappe!" I protested.

"Take it with you." he picked up the tall glass with his free hand on the way.

Hmm, this better be good, I thought. I didn't particularly cared for that rushed treatment.

He walked me through the entire ground floor stopping in front of random stands and pretending to read the titles only to declare sometime later "It's not here. It must be upstairs." and continued to drag me up the stairs to the floor above.

I was seriously starting to doubt that was a good idea but I was also curious to see what he wanted to show me.

"Here it is!" he picked up a book from a shelf and moved with it to the window although there was perfectly enough light where we stood.

I took it when he handed it to me and browsed through it. Aubery on the cover and of course his adventures at sea told in Italian as expected inside. "Thanks, but I'm not too keen on this."

"I thought you liked Crowes." he replied glancing shortly at me as he kept looking outside the window down into the gallery.

My eyebrows rose slightly. How did he know that? I didn't remember taking any of them to the restaurant. Maybe he'd heard the guys talking about them, I told myself. "Not the Auberys. Too old, too fat, and the hair's too long." And I didn't handle well their commanding and patronizing tone. "Besides, it's in Italian." I told him. "So what's the story?" I asked him bluntly.

"Huh? I don't know, I haven't read it." he shrugged still not making me the honor of looking at me.

"I meant who is following you?" I asked patiently.

A muscle twitched along his jaw. I saw his shoulders relaxing and he turned his back to the window. "It's an ex of mine. A very mean person…" he said ironically. Well, each with its own preferences. "It's clear now."

"Uh-hum…" I mused on a tone showing I wasn't quite buying everything he said and I sipped from my frappe. Must remember to take the glass back downstairs.

OOOOO

We met again the next morning at the market in Campo de Fiori. He was eating an apple when I looked above a vegetable stand and saw him only a dozen of steps away looking aside apparently with no worries whatsoever.

"Doing a bit of grocery shopping?" I approached him grinning.

"I'm waiting for the French Embassy to open." he informed me.

"Why? Have you lost your passport? I didn't know you have French citizenship." That was news to me.

"No, I want to check if my ex is still here. I know someone inside who should know." Brian explained.

I didn't know what seemed more odd to me, the fact that he had connections inside the French Embassy or that his ex was important enough for the people there to know where she was. I assumed we were talking about a woman since I had seen no signs of Brian swinging the other way.

"I see… why are you waiting here then?" I wondered.

"The Embassy is inside the Farnesse Palace, just around the corner."

"Ah… Palazzo Farnesse…" that name rang a bell, it was part of the list with the things I wanted to see. "When does it open? I might come with you to take a look around."

"In fifteen minutes… you're up early." he smirked checking his watch.

I stuck my tongue out at him. How did he know I liked to sleep in late? Did it show? "I didn't come here to sleep. There are lots of things I want to see, no time to waste." I grinned.

"Let's go then." he grinned back.

We finished visiting the market, stopped to admire the two large flower stands near the fountain, and then made our way to the embassy. There he disappeared inside an office while I walked around the corridors inspecting the place.

"Bad news," he told me when he came back out "it's a long voyage. And I think we've been seen together yesterday."

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I would have preferred not to be seen at all…" he muttered preoccupied as we left the building "but since we were… would you mind doing me another favor?"

"What?"

"If we're seen together again my ex maybe will back off…"

"So what do you suggest?"

"We could play tourists for a bit… have you seen the Roman Forums?"

"No, not yet."

"We could go and get down and dirty in the ruins…" he saw the look I gave him and said with a laugh quickly "it's just a figure of speech. What do you say?"

"Umm, I don't know… I had other things planned to see today." I hesitated.

"Please, it should be fun… and I'll owe you… I'll pay my debt in ice cream." he tempted me.

"Hmm… okay." I gave in and not because of the offer. "But I hope you're not the type to stop and admire every rock. I don't have the patience for that." I warned him.

"We'll move fast."

OOOOO

Well, I hadn't imagined he really meant that when he said it. But after entering the Forums area he started to walk really fast that I barely kept up with him. Periodically he was glancing back discreetly and from the way he was taking the corners I was starting to be convinced he was trying to get rid of someone. Again.

Why did I let myself get involved in this? I wondered grumbling to myself after I had asked him for the fourth time to slow down. The bad part was that I didn't know where we were anymore especially once he'd crossed a fence with a "forbidden area" sign on it. Why he was dragging me after him on that trip I had no idea. And how did he manage not to boil in that leather jacket it was beyond me.

I was starting to grumble out loud when he entered into a large several hundreds years old building with the back pressed against the slope of a hill that looked like it was going to fall apart any moment and I followed him inside.

"Wha…"

"Ssst." he pressed a finger to his lips and whispered an order "Wait here."

I wanted to protest but he had already disappeared in the darkness at the end of the gallery so I rolled my eyes and stomped my foot on the floor. I heard a faint echo of a whisper as if he was having a conversation with someone and although it was hot outside I felt chills running along my skin. This felt odd and didn't look good at all.

"Nothing interesting to see in there." he said on a tone allowing no argument and motioned with his head in an encouragement for us to get out when he returned.

"Right." I muttered. "You know, Brian, I don't like being taken for a fool, which I like to believe I ain't. And I certainly don't like being used." I huffed as we walked back to the tourist path. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing for you to worry about." he assured me.

"Uh-humm," I mumbled not exactly surprised by his answer. But then again maybe it was better not to know. "Listen, Brian, how long is your vacation supposed to last?" I arched an eyebrow at him.

"A week, why?"

"I don't know what you've got going on in there," I gestured back over my shoulder "and on a second thought I don't want to know… but could you stay away from me for the next five days?" I had better things to do than run around after him.

"I can try…" he smirked not very convincingly.

OOOOO

So beautiful. Neptune had a bit of an unnatural position right in center standing in his shell but it wasn't so obvious with the two women in the niches by his sides and the tritons handling horses at the bottom. The entire ensemble was magnificent and huge. And it looked even better in the evening with all the lights on.

The only thing that bothered me was the crowd gathered on the steps facing Fontana di Trevi. People were squeezed in like sardines and those who hadn't been able to find a place to sit were standing up in the small square commenting and taking photos.

Grateful for being small and not occupying a lot of space I had found a place near the fence bordering the steps in front and I had planted myself there. It was warm, I could feel the jeans sticking to my legs. With arms folded across my chest I watched the view thinking that everything was great about these fountains except for the noise they were making. The murmur of the crowd wasn't helping either. Mute fountains, now that was a great idea. I wondered if anyone had had it before me and whether there was a factory manufacturing them already somewhere out there.

My meditation was interrupted by an arm wrapping around my shoulders and a voice speaking loudly down at me:

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Oh, it's you…" I glanced at Brian without moving. I hadn't seen him all day and just when it seemed to be too good to be true there he was. "Are you being followed again?" I asked casually.

"I might…" he admitted but didn't look around his eyes busy scrutinizing the fountain.

"Let me guess, the murderous ex with an ax?" I said ironically.

"Worse."

My smile faltered hearing the edge in his voice.

"Want to go down there?" he nodded towards the border of the fountain.

"Nah, it's too crowded…" I shook my head but he grabbed my hand and pulled me down the steps not leaving me other option than to follow him. People could say he'd had the decency to ask first.

"Look, let's sit here…" I showed him a spot on the last row of steps where two people were just getting up to leave.

He looked at me so I knew he heard me but he didn't stop and continued his way right to the border of the water. We stood there for several moments in silence pretending to watch, maybe he was while I was really looking. The sculptures looked even bigger from close. Beside us couples or single people came to throw coins in the clear water and I hid a smile. People could be so naïve, I thought. With the corner of my eye I saw Brian searching through his pockets obviously looking for change and I rolled my eyes.

"That's a silly superstition." I protested when he held up his palm holding up several coins.

"Indulge me." he grinned.

Shrugging I pick a coin and threw it up that it reached the lower sculpted shell from where the water was falling down to the bottom of the fountain.

"No, that's not how you do it," he turned me around by the shoulder "you have to be with the back at it." he told me.

"Details…" I muttered. He kept holding his hand up so I picked another coin and threw it back over my shoulder.

"You wished to return to Rome?"

"Errr… do I have to make a wish too?" I whined.

"Yes, that's the whole point of doing it." he hid the lie with an amused smile. "One coin to return to Rome, two for marriage, three for divorce…"

"Ewww… nothing for luck?" I wondered. I really should have taken the time to read the guide I had bought before leaving home.

"Three coins thrown with your right hand over your left shoulder."

"Good thing I'm right handed, eh?" I smirked as I picked a coin with my right hand and threw it over my left shoulder back into the fountain. It was his money so I repeated the procedure two times in a row. "Happy now?"

Instead of an answer he tightened his arm around me drawing me closer in sort of a hug. In spite of the apparent tenderness of the gesture his eyes were scanning the crowd searching for someone. A street vendor holding an armful of red roses who had ignored me earlier because I was alone approached us now. Young couples often fell for that.

"I don't like roses."

"You're not allergic to them, are you?" he hesitated for a moment while reaching for the rose offered by the vendor.

"No, I just don't like them."

"Then you can hold onto them for a moment." he decided handing me the flower.

"Them? Ah…" there was a second rose he gave me but not a third. "Where I come from even number of flowers it's only for the cemetery." I grumbled frowning at the two red roses.

"Consider they're not for you." he lowered his voice.

He paid the vendor and guided me towards the left pretending to look for a place to sit. There was none and we soon arrived to the end of the alley where the big rough stones that once maybe or maybe not had supported other statues started. A few teenagers were there chatting, laughing and dipping their hands in the water. Brian took my hand to help me climb up there. The stones were slippery, thank God I wasn't wearing heels.

We stopped close to the wall in the corner to estimate the situation. Or at least that was what I thought he was doing or he should have been doing.

"Are we hiding?"

"Not yet." he grunted. "But you should." he suddenly said urging me closer to the higher placed stones. "Go up there."

I gave him a look like he was mad. "Brian, this isn't La Dolce Vita. People get arrested these days for getting into the fountain. Didn't you see the policemen out there?"

"Go. Now!"

Glaring at him, I didn't like to be yelled at, I slid behind a large block of stone hoping no one saw me and I started my slow climbing.

"Throw the roses once you get up." I heard Brian calling after me.

Mumbling some curses under my breath I moved up until I reached a high point. People inside the square couldn't see me there, why was I hiding again?, but those just coming in from the street on the left could easily spot me, damn. There was no other place to go than behind the horse and triton statue and with a hiss I sank into the water. It might still have been warm outside but the water was definitely cold. Ayyy!

My shoes were ruined and as I lowered myself behind the triton my jeans got soaked wet. Shit! There goes my cell phone and my camera. His tips received at the bar weren't going to be enough if I made him pay for them. Taking a bit of a risk I rose my head and looked back. Brian was gone. What?! He'd left me there? Just wait and see what I'm gonna do to him next time I see him. Before going back down I had the inspiration to move to the right and glance into the steps area. He was there, I breathed a sigh of relief. Waiting. What was he waiting for?

Teeth starting to clatter I remembered the instructions about the roses. What did he say, throw them? Throw them where? Shrugging I took my chances and with a wide move of my arm I thew the first rose into the top basin with water. From there it fell into the larger one beneath and then into the even larger one before falling into the pool at the bottom. Then I did the same with the second rose. If this was supposed to be some sort of a signal then I hoped whoever it was meant for had gotten it.

Now how long was I supposed to stay there? It was getting annoyingly cold making me feel the need to pee. Another peek into the open to look for Brian. It wasn't clear if he'd been talking to the man he left behind, he had his back partially turned and I couldn't see his face, but he seemed to be heading back to the place where we had split. Did that mean I could go out? I had no idea but I didn't want to stay there any longer. I went to the point from where I could look down on my ascent route and seeing Brian at the bottom, waving at me, I started my descent. It wasn't easy because my shoes were not fit for climbing and with them being wet it made the task even more difficult.

The moment I fell into Brian's arms and hoped our adventures were over for the night I heard a loud whistle and a voice vociferating in Italian something about not being allowed inside the fountain. At least three police officers surrounded us and escorted us out. I thought we were going to get away with a warning but no, papers were filed on the side wall and Brian had to pay a nice fine, which I made no offer to help paying since it had been his fault in the first place.

"Get away from me…" I growled when we were left alone. There were less protests though when he put his jacked on my shoulders, I was cold. "I thought we were going to get arrested." I complained. "What…"

"Don't." he shook his head warning me not to ask what was going on but you know me…

"What the hell were you thinking asking me to do that?" I argued with him.

Brian didn't answer. Things were complicated, especially for someone from the outside. "Let's go get a drink to warm up." he suggested instead of an answer.

We went to one of the many terraces on the side of the street and found a table inside. We finished our drinks in silence, I don't think my facial expression was inviting anyone to a conversation, and then he walked me half way to my apartment. Before saying goodnight I gave him back the jacket. It was heavy, partially because of the gun in the left pocket.

OOOOO

"No no no…" I stopped him raising a hand before Brian could even open his mouth. "Take a good look at this. What is it?" I questioned him.

His eyes glanced up and down over me as he leaned with his palms flat against my table. I was out having an ice cream for breakfast. So what, I was on vacation. "It's a dress. A nice one." he smiled.

"Good. Please keep in mind that I'm up for no diving today." I said dryly.

"Ah… I owe you an apology for that." his head lowered in admittance. "I want to make it up to you… that's why I'm here."

"No kidding…" I watched him suspiciously. "And how did you find me? Did you put a beacon on me?" The moment I said it I started to wonder if that wasn't the truth.

"No need." He claimed but didn't tell me how he found me. "Ara Pacis… have you been there yet?" he knew damn well I hadn't.

"No, but I've had enough history lessons during our marathon through the forums the other day." I replied pointedly. "I'm going shopping today."

"Then you'll love the Valentino collection displayed in the same building where Ara Pacis is hosted." He sounded a bit ironic but the smile seemed sincere and I debated whether to give him another chance. Brian could be fun when around, only during this trip he'd acted strange as far as I knew.

"Hmm… maybe…" I pondered playing with the spoon in what was left of the melted strawberry ice cream.

"Well, finish this and we'll see if you do." He grinned and picked up the bill laying on the table. "I'll take care of this, I owed you one anyway."

"You owe me more than that." I muttered. My phone and camera were still resting on the edge of the balcony drying in the sun.

Neither of us had a car but the museum wasn't far so we walked and even managed to act like tourists while having quite a few laughs in the process. If he was faking it I couldn't quite tell. I trusted him but I didn't trust his behavior any longer. He'd been right about the Valentino pieces though. Inside the large white modern building with lots of glass groups of mannequins were placed on ascending steps.

"Nice." I murmured eyeing the display and memorizing the designs of the dresses I liked.

Brian gave me a 'what did I tell you?' look and went to the marble altar laying in the middle of the room to watch it from close. Well, each with each own, I shrugged not expecting him to be interested in fashion for real and I continued my tour.

The plain red or white group didn't appeal to me much, the black and white one was interesting but I would never wear one of those as evening dress. The colored segment was right in the back, two lines of them placed each on one step close to the end and I stopped there to look if I saw something I liked.

"The smoky blue one would suit you nicely and the green one would go well with your tan…" I heard a male voice commenting close to me "but personally I would go with the beige or the golden one. Of course if you're not happy with them the white one, the third from the left, will be a definite hit. Brunettes always look good in white just like blondes look good in black."

Oh, a connoisseur. Was that Valentino himself? I turned around to see who was giving me free fashion advises and my eyes opened slightly wider. Oh… The neatly styled dark hair, the blue eyes, the strong jaw, the classy Armani suit… mmm, a girl could easily fall for such a man. Sigh, too bad he was a skirt chaser, no wonder so many did.

"Thank you for the tip, sir." I smiled tilting my head a little as I looked up at him. He was tall, taller than Brian, and I was glad I had found it fit to wear heals for that dress.

"Bond… James Bond." He introduced himself with a smile. "And you are?"

"She's with me." Brian answered for me coming by my side and placing an arm loosely around my waist.

"Ah…" there was something odd in the way he'd said that 'ah', not the usual disappointment or surprise, but something more that I felt I was missing. "Well, it's still good to meet you…" he nodded politely "and I'd still go for the gold… or white." he grinned.

"Unfortunately I don't think they're for selling, are they?"

"Not until the end of October when the exhibition closes." he agreed.

"Well, that's life… I can live with one dress less." I smirked. Besides Lynn was getting better and she could find me any dress I wanted. "And I can definitely live without stuff like that." I gestured towards the ancient altar.

"Not a history lover?"

"A moderated history lover." And even with Brian interfering I had seen plenty of history the past couple of days.

"Then you're not interested in acquiring some of these things? They have pretty good antiques on Coronari Street."

"No, but maybe I'll take a look." Looking at beautiful things had never bothered me, no one said I had to buy them too.

I could feel Brian getting restless beside me. For some reason he didn't seem to like Bond very much. I wondered why. "We should be going. There's still the mannequin in the red cube outside to see and the fountain." he reminded me. "Good to see you're still alive." he said to Bond.

"You too… and that your taste in women has improved." this one replied.

"A friend of yours?" I asked Brian on our way out.

"Not likely."

OOOOO

Brian had disappeared after that visit to Ara Pacis and I can't say I hadn't asked myself what had been the reason behind taking me there. Normally the thought would have been far from my mind cause he was a nice guy but it seemed that everything he'd done since our meeting at the airport had served to a hidden purpose known only by him. Was I supposed to meet James Bond or had his presence there been a random coincidence? Brian hadn't looked thrilled to meet him and he hadn't gone out of his way to introduce us properly. What did that mean? They obviously knew each other and I didn't think the theory of Bond still playing spies was too far fetched given the words the two men had exchanged in front of me. So what was the story with them?

Thinking about it was starting to give me a headache so I changed into another dress that didn't scream tourist from a mile and I went out for a late afternoon walk. Since James had said something about antiques on Via dei Coronari, funny how his name gets to be mentioned again, and hoping that maybe I could find there some souvenirs to bring home to the family I started that way.

Indeed there were boutiques lined up on both sides of the street packed with antiques but the prices… well, lets not talk about the prices. After entering a few I settled for just watching through the window having figured out they didn't have anything I would be really interested in.

The one time I stopped it was when I saw James at the back of a store talking with the owner, negotiating I assumed. I waited until it seemed they had come to an agreement and I stepped inside to say hello.

"I hope the business was profitable?" I smiled.

"You tell me." he showed me a dagger with a complicate iron work on the handle. "I bought it for a friend in Africa."

"I don't know much about knives but it looks nice. I have a few people at home who would like something like this but I prefer to be safe and not give them sharp object to play with." I smirked.

"Wise choice." he put the dagger back in its box on the table.

"Can I interest you in anything, Miss?" the boutique's owner asked seeing an opportunity to sell me something and eager to grasp it.

"No, thank you. I'm just looking." I smiled.

"Nothing, really?" James wondered.

"Well, I don't want weapons and everything else is just too heavy." I gestured towards the sculptures and old furniture. "I like to travel light."

He shrugged, picked up his purchase and we left the store returning into the narrow street. "So just window shopping? That's all?"

"Actually I could be interested in some jewelry." He put on that 'I knew it' look so I added "For a couple of friends at home."

"Anything in particular?"

"I was thinking something with Murano glass." Yeah, the girls would like that.

"Then I know just the place."

He led me further down the street, past a store with windows full of Murano glass and to a more discreet one where the old man running the store showed us some brilliant sets of jewelry. After much selection and deep thinking I picked two necklaces for Lynn and Maya and two bracelets as well.

"Nothing for you?" James tempted me. "Look at these earrings, they're rather nice." He picked up a teardrop pair with white and blue flowers and a pink one in the middle.

"I have something similar at home. And they're too heavy." He looked like he was wondering what was with me and heavy stuff. "I don't like heavy jewelry." I shrugged. True, I might wear quite a bit of jewelry items but they were all very light. "Now that I like," I pointed at an antique padded chair in the window "but the transportation would be hell and I don't have where to put it anyway."

"And if you look closer a leg is cracked." he stated casually.

"Ah, you've just ruined my image of it." I laughed. Good thing I didn't really want that chair or I would have been very disappointed. "Thank you." I nodded at the owner and left the store with James by my side.

"Can I interest you in dinner? Or would your… friend mind?" he asked after a few seconds of walking down the street. We were heading to Piazza Navona.

"Isn't too early for dinner?" I elegantly avoided the question.

"Not in Western Asia." he deadpanned.

"Do we have to walk that far?" I whined, the stones the pavement was made of were already killing my ankles.

"Just around the corner."

Around the corner there was one of those statue-mimes who didn't move until someone threw them a coin. This one was dressed in white and sitting on a toilet with a book in hand.

"Well, James, when you said dinner I wasn't expecting the Ritz but still this…" I chuckled.

"Everyone has the right to work for money. Of course since all he does is sitting he'll be paid accordingly." he said pragmatically. "This way."

Inside the square there were terraces on both length with tables facing the center watching over the three big fountains. On one side someone was singing opera and on the other a guy with a guitar was massacring a Clapton ballad.

"Which one do you prefer?"

Given that the fountain in the middle was covered and I favored the fountain from the left of the church compared to the one at the right I gestured towards an empty table not far from us. "There?"

"There." he agreed.

The conversation with James was very interesting when he wasn't flirting and, well, even when he was. We did a lot of that, talk, while enjoying the spaghetti and red wine, trying to filter out the bad music and noise of the square. The sun was preparing to set when we had started but it was dark when we finished. It was fascinating to listen to him speak, and by the time we were done I was amazed he'd managed to talk so much unveiling so little about himself. Very similar to what Brian was doing, only that due to the bartender job this one had learned to lower himself to any customer's level.

"Wait one second, I'll be right back." he murmured when we were waiting for the check.

He disappeared among the artists in front who were displaying their paintings with famous places in Rome, or celebrity portrait sketches. At his return he was holding a watercolor painting of Piazza Navona. The man had style, for a moment I had feared he'd bring back one of those amateur portraits, though the one of Maximus wasn't all that bad.

"It's not heavy." He offered the painting to me smiling.

OOOOO

Sitting at the kitchen table I was looking pensively at the watercolor placed on the table while waiting for the water to boil. The wine had gotten to my head and I needed something to cool it down. A hot chocolate was going to do the trick, technically it wasn't summer any longer although it was still hot.

It was the reason why I hadn't reacted right away at the faint knock on the door thinking that it might be coming from the apartment next to mine. But the visitor was persistent and getting somehow louder and probably impatient. Not wanting to lose the deposit I had made upon renting the apartment and have to buy a new door I left my seat and started towards the corridor.

I knew only two people in Rome beside the landlady and I had a feeling at least one of them knew where I lived. What were the chances to be James? He hadn't walked me home, we had parted somewhere along the way, but it shouldn't be that difficult for a man with his resources to find me. Mmm, Bond. My imagination got distracted seeing already steamy scenes with me being pushed against the wall and us making a mess of the sheets. Didn't he get to sleep with just about every chick in his movies? That thought cut a bit of my excitement, even if he was supposed to be a great lover, and I went to put on a satin robe over the vintage nightgown I had on.

God, I missed my guys, I hadn't realised it before but I did. What if it was one of them on the other side of the door? If it was he was going to get the night of his life. Excited by that idea I ran to open giving up on tying up the robe around myself.

Have you ever seen a balloon deflating? That was me when I saw who was standing in the doorway. Short dark sandy hair, a rough face sporting faded and fresh marks of bruises, with an intense and in the same time cold distant look, I was somehow familiar with the face from having seen it on the big screen but I was positive I had never met the man in my entire life.

"Where's Hunt? I need to see him."

"Huh… there's no Hunt here…" I stammered still holding a hand on the door and wondering what were the odds for me to slam the door in his face before he barged in. Probably none.

"He told me to come here if I needed to get in contact with him." the man insisted.

I hurried to tie my robe and I told him "I don't know any Hunt…" which was true. I really didn't.

"You were with him at the Forums when we met."

"But that's…" Brian. Oh. Brian was Hunt? Ethan Hunt? Mission Impossible 1-2-3 superspy? One after another pieces started to fall into place, except for a big one. Before this holiday Brian had been working each evening at the bar for the past couple of years. When did he find time to play spies? "Come in…" I muttered stepping aside to let him in. If he was a spy too then he shouldn't be seen standing at my door, I didn't want to get into any more trouble than I was apparently in already.

He followed me in to the living room and dumped his backpack on the floor beside the couch.

"Ummm… he's not here… I don't know where he is." I hesitated.

"Call him."

Yeah, I guess I could do that, I thought. But I didn't like being ordered and I wasn't even sure he was a friend of Brian… err Ethan. He could very well lie.

I nodded and went to get my cell phone as I didn't know his number by heart, I hadn't used it often. Last time I had seen it my phone was on the balcony still drying. The thought of escaping climbing off the balcony crossed my mind but I shook my head chasing it away. I was on the third floor, with no facile ways of climbing down beside jumping off, I had half a bottle of wine in my stomach and I was no spy. This life was not for me. And wouldn't it be funny if the phone didn't work? But it did. Nessun Dorma started to come out of the small speaker before I got to even touch it. I didn't let it go to the Vincero part, rolling my eyes I answered:

"Hello?"

"Come and pick me up from Termini Station…"

Well, hello to you too, I thought sarcastically but the urgency in his voice was increasing the production of adrenaline in my system. "Wait, there's someone here who's looking for you…"

"Jason Bourne." The late night visitor had followed me and had obviously heard what I had said in spite of my effort to keep my voice low.

"…Jason Bourne." I repeated the name.

"Shit!" there was a pause then came a grunt, a pant and Brian, I mean Ethan's voice again. "Tell him to wait there and stay put. There's been a development in the situation that he's not aware of… and hurry, for God's sake!, I can't stay here for long. I'm inside the underground floor of the library." Click.

Got it. Huh? I might be crazy, I sighed.

"He said you should wait here." I turned to inform Bourne. "I'm going after him. Something happened, he didn't sound right." That was all I intended to tell him, provided he didn't try to force the location out of me, in which case I wasn't sure it was worth resisting him. Torture was painful and Ethan wasn't in my good books at the moment.

Jason didn't get in my way. It wasn't a matter of trusting me, he'd survived this long so he must have known better than that, it was a matter of trusting Ethan and it looked like he did.

There was no time to change. I put on my long gray raincoat and a pair of ballerina shoes. Those were good for running, and with Brian one never knew.

I scowled when I looked up and saw Jason watching me. What if I had decided to change?

"Do you have a gun?" he asked instead.

I hesitated for a small fraction of a second. "No." If it was a weakness admitting I wasn't armed then so be it. I didn't do guns. "Gotta go!" I grabbed my keys, some money and credit card, who knew where Ethan needed to go, he hadn't said he would come to my place after all, and I ran out the door. I didn't take my cell phone. On a regular day that small shiny thing was traced by at least two different parties and that didn't suit me now when I didn't know whether I could trust Bourne and who they were up against.

In the absence of a car I had to take a cab. I found one as soon as I got out on the main street and being close to midnight it didn't take long to get to Termini Station. Only that the taxi left me to a different entrance and I had to cross the entire damned station to find the bookstore. I passed by the stairs and elevators but Ethan had said the underground level of the bookstore and that implied it had more than one. It was sensible to assume there had to be a connection between the levels and there was.

I entered the small glass cabin and pressed the button, then I took a deep breath as the elevator glided down. I was close but I hadn't found him yet. Was I too late? No. Ethan was leaning against a bookstand pretending to look at the titles while pressing his hand against his side.

I didn't ask him what had happened. I simply slipped an arm around him to help support him and we went back up to the ground floor. "Do you have a car around or we take a cab?" I asked him not knowing which way to turn. The exit was right to our left and there were taxis parked outside.

"Cab."

"Your place or mine?" I murmured as we slid into the back seat. Not that I knew where he stayed but I had a package at home I was hoping he was going to help me get rid of.

"Yours." He grunted.

I told the driver the address and I wrapped my arms around Ethan. Unseen by the man in the front seat I replaced his hand with mine using it to keep pressure on the wound. This way he had both hands free just in case. Nothing happened on the way to the apartment, I glanced back often pretending to cuddle and kiss him but I didn't notice anyone following us.

OOOOO

The short rest taken in the car seemed to have helped him and Ethan moved with more ease up the two flights of stairs leading to my apartment. He'd refused to take the elevator.

"You made it." A gun was pointed to his head as we entered the door. His own was aimed at Jason's stomach.

"So did you." Ethan lowered his gun and so did his… friend?

I crossed myself mentally and thanked God I was one step behind. I had to remember not to get between these two if this was how they greeted each other.

The guys went to the living room and I entered the bathroom to look for some things to patch up Ethan. The blood marks on the sink told me Jason had done his own patching while I had been away. "Hey, you could have at least cleaned up after yourself!" I yelled and rushed to the toilet. I wiped the cold sweat off my forehead and took off the raincoat with a sigh. What a shame, it had been such a tasty dinner.

They were seated around the small coffee table when I went to them and they shut up for a moment not wanting to share their big boys secrets with me.

"Off." I gestured for Ethan to take off his long sleeves black t-shirt. I had a bottle with disinfectant in my hand and bandages in the other one.

He obeyed and I sat beside him on the couch in a firm statement showing them I wasn't going anywhere before I was done with it. He had an ugly cut on the left side of the abdomen but that I only discovered after I wiped off all the blood that had poured out.

I could feel them exchange a look above my head and then Ethan began to speak again. "Things blew up big time in Florence… I barely got out." That I could see. "They're furious."

"Did they follow you?" Jason wanted to know and glanced at the curtains covering the windows with a paranoid look.

"There was no one left to follow… they don't know where I went."

"So that means half a day for searching the town…"

"…and another day and a half to get here and search." Ethan nodded. "That leaves us two days."

"That's not enough time." Jason stated.

"Yeah…" Ethan muttered and sighed. "We'll have to get Bond involved."

"He's here?"

I bit my lips not to answer and focused on my nurse job trying not to make too much mess around.

"Yeah, the bastard's here. Not sure what his business is but he delivered the info I needed. He set me on the path to Florence." I looked up at him surprised to hear that. Had that been a smart move? Look what had happened to him. "It was supposed to be simple task, get in, out and back in the train… only that I had to blow up the whole thing to get out."

"You lost the data?"

He nodded bitterly. "At least they don't have it either." He muttered and hissed.

"Sorry…" I murmured "This needs stitches." I warned him.

He looked down at the wound and frowned. "Got any needles laying around?"

"Ewww…" I made a disgusted face but went to look for anything that looked like a sewing kit.

I could hear the murmur of their voices coming from the living room as I checked the drawers in the other room. I was sure I had seen some spools in there somewhere.

"This is all I could find." I held up two needles and two spools. "White or blue?" I smirked showing him the threads.

Ethan scowled a little because apparently I was enjoying this a bit too much and then he rose his eyebrows when I put them down on the table in front of him.

"Oh, no, I'm not doing it!" I held up my hands shaking my head and stepped back. "You can ask him to help you," I nodded at Jason "or do it yourself. But I wouldn't trust him, he left quite a mess in the bathroom." I told him. "Coffee anyone?"

By the time the coffee was ready Ethan was putting a bandage over the freshly sawn wound looking a little pale. "What about you? I told you to come here only as last resort…" he scolded Jason.

"Let me…" I pushed his hands away and redid the bandaging. I didn't gross out at the sight of the blue thread piercing his skin, with a little luck given enough time to heal this wasn't going to be a too ugly scar. Girls would digg him even more.

"I couldn't stay inside the Forums any longer. Four days was long enough… and than I was nearly ran off the road by some maniac."

"Did you see who it was?"

"I didn't recognize him, he was wearing dark sunglasses."

"Agent Smith has been after me ever since I left the airport." Ethan cleared some of the mystery as far as I was concerned. "He could have followed us when we went to the Forums. I've looked but I didn't see him, he's very good. He might be on to you too now. Sounds like an appropriate description to me."

"It could be him." Jason agreed.

"We need to call Bond." Ethan decided and winced when he reached for his jacket to find the phone. "Shit." The battery was off.

"Here, use mine." I handed him my cell phone. It couldn't hurt to have James' number, right? Someone's stomach growled. "I'll make some sandwiches." I sighed. This was going to be a long night it seemed.

OOOOO

Less than half an hour later three men were sitting around the table eating my sandwiches.

"I should have invited you straight to breakfast." James grinned ignoring Ethan's suspicious glare.

"Maybe you should have…" when he'd had the chance, I smirked. There wasn't going to be any breakfast now. These men meant business, with guns, and blood, and I didn't want to be part of that. In fact, why didn't he invite them all out to breakfast so I could go to sleep and continue with my vacation, I almost suggested.

"You two can flirt later, let's get back to business, shall we?" Ethan chided us and he was rewarded with an innocent look. Who, me?

"Gentlemen, it appears we've all come here with different purposes in mind but somehow our goals are interconnected." James started.

"I've flu in from Tokyo…" Jason interfered.

"And last week I was still in South Africa." James said.

"I was sent straight here." Ethan added. He held my gaze for a moment and then lowered his eyes knowing he had a lot of explaining to do.

"Bottom of line we have businesses here and someone is getting in our way, right?" James summed it up.

"I'm afraid it's more complicated than that." Ethan asserted frowning at his coffee.

"And Mr. Smith is in town too." Jason told them. "I saw him chewing carrots next to the tabbacco shop in Piazza Venetia."

Mr. Smith? My eyes gleamed with interest and Ethan hurried to cut my hopes short. "Not that Smith. John is in Hawaii in vacation with his wife. This is another Smith." He clarified things for me, making me even more confused. "She likes them blonde." He told the other two men. They looked at each other's hair and shrugged. No luck.

"Actually I heard that Mrs. Smith threw a huge tantrum when John was called back by the Agency in the middle of their second honeymoon." James smirked.

"What are the chances for him to be around?" Ethan asked rhetorically. "We could send him to keep Agent Smith busy if he's not too caught up."

"Oh, I thought I saw his ugly face the other day." James remembered.

It wasn't clear of which one he was talking about, there were already too many Smiths for me to tell them apart. I hid a yawn behind my hand and gave up. It was really late, when were the guys going to leave to their homes and let me sleep?

There were a few seconds of silence during which no one said a word until Ethan broke it:

"We're wasting time. We have to share some info in order to move on…" he looked at the other two men who weren't volunteering to start and decided to go first. "All I have is a name… Maria."

"Mine's Peter." James said.

"Giovanni." Jason filled in reluctantly.

"I reckon she's a contact but I don't know where to find her or even where to start looking." Ethan confessed. "Maria is one of the most common Italian names…" and so was Giovanni, and Pietro, not Peter.

I jumped off the couch and I went to get the map. It wasn't a very detailed map, more like one designed for tourists showing clearly all the important monuments on it, and that was what I needed. With a serious map I would have probably lost my idea.

"What if…" I mumbled studying it "What if those are not people? What if it's churches you're looking for?" I wondered only to have three pairs of eyes staring at me.

"Churches… hmmm…" James mused like it was an interesting idea.

"God, there are tons of Santa Maria churches…" Ethan leaned in to glance over my map and I stuck my tongue out at him. He eyed me again but he didn't say anything, not in front of the competition.

"It means that I should go to the Vatican tomorrow." James said contented. "It suits me, I was planning to talk to the curator of the museum anyway."

"I need to make a stop at the museum inside Castle Sant' Angelo in the morning but then I can check on the two San Giovanni's in the South." Jason made his own plan.

"And I'm stuck with the Marias…" Ethan deadpanned.

James got up. "Good, then we're all set for the time being. Don't forget she" he nodded in my direction "can't be left alone. She's been seen with you, Ethan, with me, and Jason came here too. She's not safe."

That was more than a little worrying. I didn't want to be locked inside the house, I was on va-ca-tion! Why didn't anyone seem to understand that?

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm going to visit Vatican tomorrow." I announced with determination. It was the next stop on my vacation plan. Just try to stop me and you'll see.

Ethan and James exchanged a glance and Ethan shrugged his shoulders. She's all yours, pal.

So James left to return to his fancy hotel, my guess, and Jason remained to sleep on the couch in the living room. I didn't know about Ethan, and I did not care. All I knew was that I used to like him much better when he was a bartender. I retreated into the bedroom and started to get ready for bed. It was past 3 AM.

"We need to talk…" I heard Ethan say quietly as he stood in the doorway.

"No, we don't." I muttered. "I want to sleep," I fussed around the bed pulling on the cover "I don't want to listen to your lies."

"I didn't lie to you… I just didn't tell you the whole truth. It's… it's how we live. All of us." he murmured with regret. "I had hoped I was done with this life, but the Agency called me back. I couldn't say no, they pretty much own me."

That explained the age difference from what Brian was supposed to have been, and his lack of skills behind the bar. It didn't explain why I hadn't been informed and there was no mention in his papers about that.

"Does anyone know at home?" I stopped and looked at him.

"No… I think Lynn suspects something after that time Siegal tried to kidnap her from the restaurant but she never asked."

I nodded and straightened some clothes on the back of a chair. I didn't want to talk, I was too tired to start on the argument I felt he deserved. He didn't owe me any explanation but still I felt cheated, and that annoyed me even more.

Ethan shifted in place. "Thank you for today."

"You're welcome." I said dryly. "Need an extra pillow?"

We hadn't discussed where he was going to spend the night, but in spite of all the animosity I felt against him I felt safer knowing he was close. So that offer was as good as an invitation to stay. On the living room couch.

He smiled and I picked up a pillow from the bed and threw it at him. He huffed when it hit him in the stomach. _Then_ I smiled.

OOOOO

I pressed the numbers shown on the label stuck on the glass and I listened to the guide explanation. Why should I care which Pope that golden cup had belonged to? A few steps away from me James was listening concentrated to what I firmly believed was a different voice than the guide's boring one. And that voice wouldn't stop talking, grrr.

We had arrived to St. Peter's Square in the morning when the line to enter the basilica wasn't long yet. I wasn't terribly interested in going up on the cupola but James was for some reason and I went along with him. Once we got up there he pulled out a set of binoculars from his jacket and he looked around. A thin smile twisted his lips when he saw a small silhouette climbing on the side of the top of Sant' Angelo Castle. Jason had never said how he was planning to get in.

I on the other hand was busy looking at all those rooftops. I could see far away, the building was huge compared to just big like it appeared to be when seen from the square.

The inside of the basilica was also huge, not looking the way I had imagined it though. I was expecting something more bright, shiny, feisty, but the interior was dark and with a feel of old and dusty due to the gray marble mostly. Not to my liking. We walked around the walls twice admiring the sculptures, mosaics and paintings keeping away from the badly dressed groups of tourist led by various language speaking guides and then he suggested we should also enter the treasury as we passed by its open entrance. If he had a special interested I didn't know about it.

The corridor leading to the museum was painted in light shades of green and full of light but the actual museum had black walls with spotlights aimed at large glass cases, which enclosed the items displayed. Who was willing to bet that was unbreakable glass? After seeing Ethan shot their paranoia was rubbing off on me and I was relieved we'd been searched upon entering along with the other visitors cause given the circumstances this environment had the tendency to look creepy and very appropriate for an attack, not mentioning claustrophobic too with all the A/C units and camera on every wall.

A dozen of guide explications later I got bored of listening to the monotone voice and stopped bother checking the numbers settling for looking at the items behind the glass. That made me move faster than James and I had to stop and wait for him before taking each corner as I didn't want to be left alone with those people looking like zombies while listening to the provided podcast.

"What's the hurry?" James whispered in the quiet room disturbed only by the faint A/C murmur.

"I'm bored." I made a grimace. The tapestry in front of us was over one hundred years old, the colors had faded and if that was gold I was ready to eat it all.

James was standing by my side partially turned so his strong back was blocking my view to the entrance of the corridor. There was only one walking sense for the visitors and any possible danger could only come from behind as I had been always careful when entering a new room.

"History takes patience, my dear." He shrugged a shoulder and getting a brief glimpse behind him I gasped. There was a man just around the corner and about to walk in. Dark sunglasses in this dim light? Oh, shit!

His reaction was immediate. I didn't know whether he'd really seen him or his action was directed by the shock written on my face but I found myself cradled between him and the wall and his lips pressed on mine. Fuuuck! I had finally identified one of the Smith guys, I knew who Agent Smith was. Where was Keanu Reeves when you needed him? Oh… oh… ohhhh… The man knew how to kiss.

"You're taking advantage of this…" I grinned a little breathless when he pulled back slightly. The kiss had lasted too long, the enemy had to be gone already.

"You said you were bored." he smirked. "We should wait a couple of more moments just in case." He said and instead of moving away settled his body more comfortably against mine. "Still bored?" he challenged me.

"Mmm… not really…" I mused looking up to his handsome face so close to mine. Ah, too bad he was a spy. And talking about spies… "Can I ask you something?"

"Uh-huh…" he hummed but his blue eyes were looking at my lips.

"What's the deal with you and Ethan? You stepped on each other's toes or something?"

"Something like that… he and his team screwed up my mission once and I got his girl. It wasn't intentional but we didn't like each other ever since."

"Boys and their toys…" I smiled teasingly and shook my head.

"Unfortunately it's not a simple game… and you have to have the skills to play it right."

Yeah, that was the real problem. And the most important skill was to be able to let go, which I couldn't. It was the reason why I would have made a really bad agent. Funny how I called myself agent when I wasn't one and I preferred to call them spies.

"Think he's gone by now?" I wondered. "I'm freezing." My back was pressed against the A/C fan.

OOOOO

"Oh, I could live in here!" I giggled excited looking around the place.

As soon as we left St. Peter's church we'd headed to the Vatican museum. With James connections we were spared of the long walk to the main entrance and we were let in after taking a shortcut straight from St. Peter Square.

"Wow, you know the Pope too?" I mocked my companion on our way in.

"No, he runs his own set of agents… we don't see eye to eye." The last bit of information wasn't that much of a surprise.

He was speeding up the pace and that was starting to remind me too much of the walk with Ethan for me to like it so it didn't last long until I began complaining. "Slow down… I don't get to see anything."

"I have a meeting with the director of the museum. He's a busy man." In fact he needed him to arrange for him a meeting with the curator who was even a busier man, I found out later.

"Then let me go take a regular tour and you do whatever you need to do."

"I can't do that. I promised Hunt I won't let you out of my sight and deliver you safely at Umberto bridge at 2 PM."

That left me speechless. Both the fact that Ethan had asked such a thing and James agreeing to it were almost unbelievable.

"But I wanna see the museum…" I whined.

"Yes, I know, darling…" he sighed sympathetically or maybe just sick of all my whining and made me sort of a promise "Let me see what I can do."

We entered together at the audience with the director and during their talk James managed to arrange for me a private tour of the museum with a guard and art expert for the time when he had to meet with the curator. Guess who was a happy bunny? Me.

OOOOO

"Ah, Ethan, it was wonderful!" I ran to him the last half of the bridge and I hugged him holding back an evil grin as he gasped and leaned on a side under my weight. "I just looooved the museum! And James was so sweet to walk me around and show me everything. All those statues, and paintings, and oh my God the Sistine Chapel…" I gushed like a teenager and kept chatting excited not forgetting to mention repeatedly how wonderful James had been.

"OK, I'll let you exchange impressions" James gave me an odd look because I had told him earlier I hadn't been blown away by the Sistine Chapel "while I'm heading to a date with Moses."

"She made you change orientation that fast?" Ethan teased him not sure what was going on.

"Hey!" I protested and slapped his arm. "I wanna see Moses too! Bye bye Ethan…" I moved only to be pulled away but his arm held tightly around my waist.

"You stay here." he grunted an order.

"But it's Moses… Michelangelo's Moses…" I protested. "I can't miss it!"

"You'll see it later, now we have to go." He refused to give in to my whining.

"See you later." James nodded and went ahead to go on with the next step of his assignment.

"What's so funny?" Ethan heard me chuckling.

"San Pietro in Vincoli closes shortly after noon. He won't make it in time." I smirked.

"Have they confiscated your brain at the museum and kept it for research? We're working here." he scolded me.

"Not me. I'm on vacation." I grinned and leaned against the rail to look down at the water.

"Jesus!" he cursed in frustration. "And I thought they were exaggerating…" it wasn't hard to imagine him shake his head behind me and I was pretty sure he was talking about my guys.

"Now, now, be nice…" I said on a sing songed voice "I could decide to stay here all afternoon and you wouldn't want to make a scene, would you?"

Someone took in a deep breath and that wasn't me. "I'm sorry…" a pause "Can we go? I have a whole list of churches to check."

"Well, what did you do all morning?… I know, don't ask." I rolled my eyes. "I don't know how anyone can work with you…" I mumbled but I walked beside him.

"You're not working with me." the words came out harsh. "I don't have a team anymore."

Obviously.

"So now what?" I asked quietly. He refused to share with me any details and make me part of the action. According to him all I had to do was tag along and that was no fun.

"We go to Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri."

I nodded in admission and kept my mouth shut. I was just in for the ride. And on top of all I had to walk. Ah, no, he had a car parked down the street. What an improvement!

The silence was long and not at all satisfying. I was getting hungry but I would not have any of the junk food sold in the street and there was no time to sit at a table and order. I bought myself an ice cream on the run, didn't even ask him to pay for it, and I ate it quickly before it melted and dripped all over my fingers and eventually the seat covers. We still weren't talking.

Inside the church I let Ethan do whatever he needed to do and I acted like real tourist, taking pictures with my cell phone since the camera hadn't survived the drowning. I had visited it before and I liked it, it was large and without dozen of unnecessary columns, though some extras were painted on the walls, and no small rooms on the side.

With the corner of my eye I saw Ethan disappearing in the small interior yard. The meridian crossing the floor and the rainbow colors coming from a window on top were more interesting so I waited there. Sure I worried that Ethan could get killed in there but he'd stated clearly he didn't want me in his way and I wanted to show him I could respect his wish. Later I was going to realise it had been a wise decision.

It was a coincidence I looked back the moment his nose and sunglasses walked in. Agent Smith on the trail. Taking advantage of the fact that he was looking the other way I moved closer to the wall and covered my head with the long scarf I was carrying with me. Then kneeling and crossing myself every other two steps I migrated towards the yard.

"He's here." I hissed running into Ethan in the small exhibition room that opened to the yard. "He was at the Vatican too."

"This way."

He pulled me outside and through another door that was half open already. He guided me along the corridor as if he knew the way and we exited the church in the back, returned to Piazza Repubblica only to go on to the street on the left to the nearest bus station.

"Hey, where are you?" Ethan spoke on his phone as he checked the schedule printed on a panel. "Uh-hum… yeah… okay… listen, I'm gonna send you the package and I need you to guard it for me for a couple of hours. Yes… she'll be there at 3:30." he hung up and looked up the street for a bus. "I can't risk a confrontation with you around." he told me. "You're going to Jason. He's going to take care of you while I lose Smith. He owes me."

My lips closed tightly and I gave him a cold look, I didn't even bother to glare. I was the package. And while I understand the reasoning behind it it upset me.

The bus arrived and I got up without looking back. If that was how he wanted it fine. Go and shoot yourself. Or get shot. Just don't bleed on me again.

"Get down at the fourth station." He called out after me. "And if he's not there go into the church!" I heard before the doors closed and the bus started to roll down the street.

OOOOO

But Jason was there. He was coming out of the entrance of a building when the bus pulled to a stop and the doors opened.

"Everything alright?" he asked.

"I think so…" I nodded shortly. I hadn't been followed from what I knew and the rest was irrelevant or I wasn't aware of it.

He motioned with his head towards the church in sight not far on the other side of the street meaning that we should get going. This was Jason, he didn't speak much and I still had to see him smile. But I could work with that. After all it was just work, even if I was only an extra there, I reminded myself.

The entry was made by the side, the front doors being closed and as I seen later bared from the inside so high one needed a ladder to reach it. The whole length of the church was opening to the left. We did the tourist tour together in no hurry and then I left Jason in the gift shop with a chatty sharp young nun who was telling him that just like St. Pietro was Vatican's church San Giovanni in Laterano was the church of Rome. Not everyone knew that.

I shrugged and went for another walk on the opposite side since it looked like their conversation was going to last for a while. The columns displayed on two rows were massive obstructing the view some. Good for hiding and spying but also a bit annoying. On the left side in the first room from the main entrance the iron doors were closed and two people were arranging flowers inside preparing it for a wedding. The blooms were fresh and were probably going to open all by the weekend. How nice.

In the next room two monks where on their knees praying by a sarcophagus. I passed by them quietly not to disturb them and caught a glimpse of Jason walking out of the gift shop and entering one of the confessional booths. No French, English, Russian or any other language, he'd chosen Italian. And the light showing the booth was occupied didn't go on, I noticed.

A confession from someone like him could take a while, if that was what he was doing which I doubted, and I had to find a way to keep myself busy. Two euros bought me entrance to the interior yard. And what a yard, perfectly square, with a garden with bushes covered in flowers and a gallery with columns surrounding it. Sunny, quiet and peaceful, I could forget about the rest of the world for a bit. I did that by jumping over the chain meant to keep the visitors away from the grass and climbing up on the stony wall surrounding it where I sat in a patch of light with my hands resting in my lap being showered by the sun.

My meditation ended when Jason found his way to the yard. He was investigating the sculptures and other fragments stored along the South wall in some sort of an improvised museum. A nun coming out through another door looked like she was going to frown at me first for the breach of protocol but then she smiled indulgently. That moment Jason looked back and for some reason his features softened too.

Trying to stay in the character I smiled back and seeing the direction where it was aimed the nun chuckled quietly on her way. And the lighting didn't strike.

Jason came to me and propped his arms against the wall. "Let's go." he murmured.

"Sure." I turned around and jumped off with his help.

He had a car but that didn't help much. There was a wedding taking place inside San Giovanni e Paolo church so we had to wait outside. We admired the architecture, walked around for a bit and I stopped to pet the horse from the carriage waiting for the newlyweds. Then the people started to pour out with flashes and laughter and confetti's coming out of balloons. As they took a group photo in front we sneaked behind them and squeezed inside.

It was different from anything else I had seen. The white flowers and golden wedding decorations added to the gold of the inside of the church sparkling feisty under the light of the two dozens of chandeliers hanged on the walls. I had been to several weddings over the years but this setting had something special and I couldn't help feeling a bit melancholic while being there. The only things disrupting the ensemble were the fake candles.

Jason entered the sacristy and I stayed put watching the paintings covering the ceiling until the lights were turned off. With a small bow in front of the altar I started for the exit. I didn't cross myself. There might be a truce between _Him_ and I but we were still at war.

The backpack Jason was carrying with him looked slightly heavier when he joined me outside. God, I hoped he hadn't stolen anything! I couldn't read anything on his face, I didn't know him so I never could.

He opened the door to the driver seat and I opened the one on the other side.

"Where to?"

He checked his watch. As he did that his cell phone rang. "Yes… where?… Twenty minutes." He closed the phone and turned on the engine. "Ethan wants you back."

I rolled my eyes and slumped back into my seat. This might be how a ping pong ball was feeling, I sighed as he sped into the sunset along Circus Maximus, or what was left of it, an empty field covered in empty plastic bottles. I was glad Maximus wasn't there to see it. It was a desolated sight.

OOOOO

Santa Maria in Cosmedin was closed. I stood by the gate along with the other unfortunate tourists and watched Bocca dela Verita between the metal bars wishing I could shove a few certain men's hands through those cold frozen lips to make them spill out some truth.

"Have you been inside?"

"I got here five minutes before closing." Ethan answered. He was wearing a new shirt and had a fresh bruise on his forehead. Must be a new trend.

I stepped away from the bars and muttered "Okay…" not sure what to do next. "Any other church left?" I dared to ask.

"Been to Santa Maria Maggiore," good, I had already seen that one "and the rest on the list. There's only the one in Trastevere left."

"Won't it be closed?" I wondered.

"I called to inquire about the schedule and there'll be a mass in the evening."

"Ah…" there was no sign of enthusiasm whatsoever in my voice.

"We even have time to eat."

Oh, food. I had forgotten about that. No wonder my stomach was cramping. I shrugged like it didn't matter. Yes, I was still mad at him, in case you wonder.

"Where's the car?"

"Gone." he replied. "We walk." Tell me something new.

So we walked. We only made a stop for Ethan to buy two Shawarma, a double one for him as the man needed his strength, and we ate them on the way. I was too hungry to care whether it was junk food or not. At least the water was from a fountain and not pop.

I didn't get to stare at the shops' windows for as long as I would have liked to although he didn't hurried me for once. I just wasn't in the mood after being dragged and tossed around all day. I was tired and I couldn't get past the fact that my whole vacation had gone to hell. And I didn't know what to do with Ethan when he got home. If he made it back there.

Parting from the boulevard there was a couple of small narrow streets we had to go through to get to the square. The neighborhood was very much alive in spite of the late hour. The tourists seemed to belong to another class compared to the ones on the other side of the river but the atmosphere was pleasant. It was dark when we arrived to the square. The lights were on and while the teenagers were gathered around the fountain in the middle of the square there was a flow of people heading into the church. We joined them and got inside being the last pair to enter before the doors closed.

The benches were occupied so we moved to the back to stand with the other people standing, some tourists, some not. The locals were holding small books in their hands which they used to help themselves with the lyrics if needed when the singing started. It was a first for me to assist to such a mass since I wasn't Catholic, and I find it to be an enjoyable experience. The songs sounded great inside that church. To my surprise Ethan was murmuring the words too. I would have to ask him later how did his faith and job match. Please, God, don't strike me, I'm stressed and confused and my feet hurts. Auch, they really did!

Ethan's hand holding mine only added to the confusion. He'd taken it sometime during the mass and he didn't let go all the way to the apartment.

OOOOO

The faint music that could be heard coming out of the apartment as we walked along the corridor made me frown and look suspiciously at Ethan.

"Don't worry, it's just the guys." he smirked.

Great, now they could add breaking in to the list too.

I didn't need to reach for my keys, the door opened and Jason let us in. He made sure to lock the door after us.

The stereo was on, there were drinks on the table and through the cloud of smoke in the air I saw two new figures beside Jason and James, a dark haired one and a blonde one.

"Hey, you made it!" Ethan shook hands with the blonde man.

"Just thought to check on how you're doing, man." This one smirked. "I see you have your hands full." he winked. Ok, not on my Christmas list.

"Did you encounter any problem?" James distracted Ethan from replying. "What took you so long?"

"No, we just had to walk."

"Lovely night, eh?" his newly arrived friend grinned.

"John, behave or I'm gonna tell it to your wife." Ethan teased him and turned to introduce me to the other man first. "This is Mr. Smith you heard us talking about…" he told me.

The blue eyed dark hair man grunted and saluted me with the carrot he was holding and then went back to chewing on it.

"And this is John Smith, currently sleeping in the dog house for ditching his wife while on honeymoon." Ethan paid him back.

"Nah, it's cool, she would have come too if she'd gotten the visa in time."

"That's not what we've heard…" Jason smirked.

Since the boys seemed to enjoy their little banter and in no hurry to be serious I excused myself in order to go change my clothes and freshen up. I hadn't been to the bathroom since morning!

"OK, we'll wait for you." James said and that brought my eyebrows up. Why would they do that? They hadn't shown the slightest hint of caring about what I thought or felt so far. Odd.

"Better open the windows… and could you, please, stop smoking?" I snatched the lighter out of James' hand. "Thanks!"

They did wait for me. Even more odd. With a silk blouse on and a pair of pants and comfortable shoes I shuffled into an empty armchair. Ethan had just gotten up from it and he was ordering pizzas. Apparently the guys were hungry.

"What?" Ethan spotted my smile while still holding the phone up.

"That's not pizza that you're ordering… it's some alien but not pizza."

"Are you volunteering to cook?"

"No?"

"Then it will do."

I shrugged and let him finish with the order. Once he was done he turned around to sit and since I had taken his place he sat on the armrest by my elbow.

"So… first of all thank you for taking care of Agent Smith for us today." he nodded at John and Mr. Smith.

"It was not a problem, you warmed him up really well." John grinned leaning in his chair and picked up his drink. Mr. Smith just nodded back.

"Yes, unfortunately he has the bad habit of recovering fast so keep your eyes open tomorrow."

All the men nodded in agreement. This was serious stuff.

"What can you tell me about San Pietro?" Ethan then asked James.

"The security is tight but not impossible to breach. There will also be a big televised religious service on Sunday so tomorrow it will only be open until noon in order for them to have time to make the preparations. But the Pope won't be there, he flew abroad this afternoon."

"And the other one?"

"San Pietro in Vincoli… well, Moses is still there," James deadpanned and glanced at me smiling "I took pictures for you." I was surprised he'd done that, but I was even more surprised by the fact that he'd managed to get in. "The church is being restored and many walls are blank. The schedule is rather tight, probably because of the works. I don't see anything major happening there, those St. Andrew's relics are supposed to only arrive the next week."

James sounded like he'd decided San Pietro from Vatican was the one that mattered, though why nobody had told me.

"Jason?" Ethan looked at the younger agent.

"San Giovanni in Laterano functions like a regular church." He began his report. "It's large, the setting is favorable for an action. It's the church of Rome." He stated it with a shrug. "San Giovanni e Paolo though… too… crowded in by the other buildings… no get away route… too many other churches in near vicinity… doesn't fit the profile." he shook his head.

"OK…" Ethan nodded. "I wish I had been so successful as you've been. There are almost twenty Santa Maria churches in Rome. Santa Maria Maggiore is one of them. Then" his eyes lowered at me "there's Santa Maria dei Angeli e dei Martiri…" he looked like he was apologizing and I felt a tinge of regret. Not that beautiful church. "And then there's Piazza dei Popolo with _three_ Santa Maria churches in it, two non identical twins and one having the name of the square. I couldn't reduce the list more than this…" he admitted with a frown.

"That's alright, that's what you have us here for." John smirked. "We'll check the other two for you."

Mr. Smith nodded reluctantly. If he had to…

Ethan was keeping quiet watching me intently and I shrugged distracted. "What?" I was still wondering who'd given him the authority to boss those other agents around and how come they accepted it?

"What were you thinking about?"

"What do you think I was thinking about? I have no idea what the hell is going on here." I reminded him.

The men grimaced discontented and looked at each other. This wasn't part of the protocol, agents weren't supposed to exchange information that wasn't absolutely necessary for the success of the operation.

"I…"

"James…" Ethan interrupted him.

"No, let her know. I'm curious what a SIE agent would make of it." he dropped the bomb.

Of course after such a detail being revealed I was watched with far more respect, I hoped, if not just curiosity by those other four pair of eyes.

"You're a foreign intelligence agent?" Ethan stared at me. "How… how come I didn't know that?" he narrowed his eyes at me.

"I didn't know you were one either." I smirked. "And I'm not. I was for a short period of time long a go but not anymore." I told them.

I wasn't too comfortable with them knowing that fact about me. Once I had been given the opportunity to make a career in that field and with the foolishness of the youth I had taken it. I had changed my mind only a few months later when guns had come into play. My contact, which I had come to respect a lot both as professional and human being, had suddenly disappeared and the word was he'd been shot. That had made me rethink the entire situation and as a result I had announced my supervisor that I wanted out. There had been no time for proper training, so I wasn't an agent, not really.

"You were never retired," James pointed out "your status is dormant." He'd been doing his homework, the same thing Peter had told me in the beginning of the year. I didn't know why was that.

I shrugged. "The thing is I'm not working anymore," I insisted "so you don't have to share anything with me."

"We could use a little help here." That I could see it for myself.

But all my experience comes from espionage books, I almost blurted out. Ah, well, since they offered… I was curious to know what the deal was anyway.

"What's going on?" I asked on a tone that I hoped sounded professional enough.

"I'm here after an international art dealer who sells stolen originals as well as fakes. The Agency wants the sources unveiled." James stated.

"Art dealer… hmm… I'd go for San Pietro in Vincoli then, not the Vatican." I reasoned. "The location is discreet and since the church is being restored he might try to leave with some art that was stored for safety during the works." I reasoned.

"That's an interesting point of view." James murmured. "What about Jason's?" he nodded at his colleague.

"I've followed a terrorist all through the Middle East. Nearly caught him once. Then the people who hired him came after me. Me stopping him doesn't suit them, they want Italy to be hit and be forced to join them in their fight against terrorism. It's complicated."

Actually it wasn't. It was just hard to tell good people from the bad guys at times.

"There'll be a wedding in San Giovanni in Laterano." I said. "I saw the preparations, it looked expensive. It will probably be massively covered by the media. Sounds like a good occasion to make a statement."

Jason nodded seeming to agree with me.

So my eyes turned to Ethan. I wanted to hear his story.

"I'm meeting a contact who brings a formula for a poisoning gas. It's something new developed in a lab in Asia. It's supposed to kill instantly through any type of contact and multiply its volume in contact with oxygen. They need it to create an antidote in case it will ever be used."

Hands up who believed that. None?

"I don't know… it's too complicated" for something that should be much simpler. I wondered if it really was that complicated and if they made it like that on purpose. "I mean, it should be a simple exchange, right?"

"There'll be no money involved at the time of the delivery but basically, yes."

"Do you always work with so little info?"

"There was a major harddisk failure due to a blackout at the Agency's headquarters. All they could recover were these names. That's why they called me… and them." Ethan gestured towards his partners in crime sort of speak.

"That doesn't mean you're the best" John smirked "otherwise we wouldn't be here to help."

"I'll take Piazza dei Popolo." Mr. Smith grunted. He reached into his pocket but, damn, he was out of carrots.

"OK, but keep in mind tomorrow it's Saturday so there going to be at least one or two wedding taking place. Don't be too generous with the bullets." Ethan warned him.

"So… flip you for the other two?" John pretended to look for a coin. "Maria dei Angeli or…"

"Maria dei Angeli e dei Martiri…" I corrected him. Why did people tend to skip on the last part? "Not to be confounded with Maria dei Angeli."

"OK, Maria dei Angeli… e dei Martiri…" he looked at me to check if I was happy now "…or Maria Maggiore?"

"Santa Maria Maggiore is more important as a church." Ethan stated. "I'll take that one."

"It makes no difference to me." John shrugged.

"And I get to stay home, right?" I said ironically.

"Actually…" Ethan made a pause to increase the suspense "no… since there'll be weddings it's easier to blend in with a date." He smiled mischievously.

"A…" my mouth remained open for a moment. I hadn't expected that. So I wasn't just getting in the way anymore. "I have nothing to wear." I deadpanned.

Two sets of laughter echoed inside the room.

"I can help you with that." James offered amused. "As for you, gentlemen, that's not a problem either… just let me call my girls, they wouldn't pass on going to a wedding as long as it's not their own."

While he used his phone to send a few text messages the pizzas arrived. They were already cold and the guys grumbled also complaining about the lack of booze. Weren't they supposed to be working? I kept myself out of it, the Shawarma I had had for lunch late in the afternoon was still burning my stomach so I was stuck to mineral water.

They were just finishing piling up the empty boxes to throw them to the trash bin when a series of doorbell rings began. Grinning James headed to the door.

"Hey, James… how's going?" the long legged spiky hair chocolate skin brunette greeted him.

"Fabulous, darling." he kissed her cheek. "Everyone, this is Jinx." he introduced her.

"Hi…" she grinned with a set full of sparkling white teeth eyes roaming over the men around the room and several waved back in answer.

Jinx barely moved away from the door and another brunette with long hair green eyes and smoky eye shadow showed up.

"Vesper…"

The woman nodded quietly not visibly impressed by the choir of "Hi, Vesper!" that greeted her.

"Wai Lin…"

"Where's the fire?" the Asian woman with long black hair and equally long legs cut him short.

"In a minute… we're waiting for… ah, there you are… Xenia."

"Hello, James." Faint Russian accent poured out through blood red lips and the woman wearing a black elegant outfit with her hair up slid into the room.

I was starting to feel underdressed wishing I hadn't changed out of that dress and especially those shoes and with each pair of long legs that invaded my territory I was sinking lower in my armchair. I was _not_ happy.

James succinctly explained them the situation and made it clear they had to pair with one of the men presents. Jinx who was seated next to him made no gesture to move. It was clear that one pair was already formed.

"Do you think you can keep up with me?" Wai Lin asked Jason matter of factly.

"Yes." Bourne answered in all seriousness.

That was good enough for her.

"I've heard about you." Xenia looked at Mr. Smith with a cold smile. "I'd like to see you in action." If there was an innuendo in her voice he didn't seem to catch on it.

"Just don't shoot me." Or maybe he did.

Not wanting to miss on the action John hold up his hand for Vesper to see his ring. "Honey, I'm married…" She got up and moved closer to him.

With that the teams were made. That meant Ethan was left uncovered but when I looked at him he winked at me. Oh. I was supposed to be his partner. Right. Hmm.

"Happy hunting, everyone!" I heard John chuckle.

OOOOO

"Good morning, Baltimore, it's 9 AM in the morning and not a cloud in the sky."

"Very funny, John, I didn't know you liked musicals."

"And coffee, don't forget coffee, Ethan. Vesper, will you be okay here for five minutes? I need to go outside and get another one. This one just made me more sleepier."

"Ok."

"John, don't leave here there alone. You're not supposed to leave the perimeter while on the job."

"Relax, Ethan, no one's awake at this hour, not even the Pope."

"Who cares?"

"Wei Lin, this is John, just ignore him."

"Who asked you?"

"You tell him, Lin… James, shouldn't you be playing kissy faces with Jinx?"

"John, that's not a kissy face she's pointing at me right now and I think it's meant for you… so be warned."

For a while nothing else came through the ear piece, then suddenly we heard Xenia's voice "Wanna fuck?" followed by a grunt and a fit of coughing. John must have probably choked on his coffee.

Let me recap. It was the next morning and we were all in positions as follow: James and Jinx in San Pietro in Vincoli, Jason and Wei Lin in San Giovanni in Laterano, John and Vesper in Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Mr. Smith and Xenia in Piazza del Popolo and Ethan and I inside Santa Maria Maggiore.

I don't know what the others' cover was, except for Xenia and Mr. Smith who were obviously inside the closed Santa Maria church having sex, but I was leaning against a column with a sketch pad in my hand. It gave me something to do and after the first couple of hesitant attempts based on muscle memory mostly the sketches started to look like the original. I was happy, I could spend the whole day in there in spite of the fact that this wasn't my favorite church, the light was poor and this was my last day of active vacation. Regardless of what Ethan had planned for the next day, I intended to rest and just indulge myself in whatever I felt like doing considering that I had sacrificed enough of my time for him. For now he was walking around the place holding a book with the churches of Rome in his hand and a bottle of water.

"I'm going up to check the tower." Ethan announced and I gave him a small nod.

Time passed slowly with waves of tourists coming and going after the mass. I was starting to appreciate the fake candles, the small white ones placed in iron holders shaped like Christmas tree didn't smell too bad but if all the others had been real I would have suffocated for sure and the sketch pad used as a fan wouldn't have been enough to keep me from fainting. I still had to get outside and sit in the sun for a couple of minutes from time to time cause it wasn't exactly warm inside the church in the morning.

The first capture was done at noon. James' art dealer arrived, somehow got caught in an elevate discussion regarding the psychology of the character portrayed by Moses statue, and then was quietly taken to the car out front. What surprised me was the fact that it was a woman.

"That went easy…" John muttered having listened to the entire conversation. It was clear from the sound of his voice that he was eager for some action too.

A wedding ceremony took place in our church but it was hard to focus and keep a straight face when all we heard was Mr. Smith putting his carrots to a peculiar use that made Xenia moan and scream terribly loud. Ethan and I were relieved when the groom and bride were given the final blessing and we could walk outside along with the guests after making sure there was no one left inside the church. We'd had changed clothes just before the wedding, I was wearing the beige Valentino one James had picked for me and even had it delivered, so it was easy to mingle and exchange a few words with the guests, especially those who didn't seem to be part of the family. We even greeted the happy couple once catching them apart but our target didn't show up.

Back to casual clothes we separated to eat, me sitting at the base of the obelisk in front of the church and Ethan on the steps in the back. The sun was shining brightly above us and from all the squares in Rome this happened to be one without a fountain so no water in sight. No McDonald to find a toilet either but that's another story.

"I am getting bored out of my mind." John sighed. What did he care? He had the Fountain of the Four Nayades in front of him while he was sitting in the shade at a table in Piazza Repubblica eating ice cream. This wasn't fair.

"Vesper, you OK?" Ethan asked since he hadn't heard her talk much.

"She went shopping." John chuckled.

"I'm here, and I'm fine, thanks." the quiet woman voice interfered.

When she did speak her strangeness was even more obvious, must be something those who'd been brought back from the death shared, I reckoned, Xenia was kinda odd too, or maybe she'd always been that way. Hmmm, something to think about, important enough to keep my mind occupied for a while.

Sounds of shooting piercing my ears woke me up from my reverie and I jumped up startled and covered my ears, which only made it worse. Distracted by my thoughts I hadn't been really paying attention for the last past few minutes and initially I thought Mr. Smith and Xenia had finally lost it and went onto a killing rampage in Piazza del Popolo after all the sex they had had that morning. But it wasn't them.

"Everyone get down!" Jason yelled.

Only a couple of minutes earlier he and Wei Lin had been greeting the guests arrived to attend a fancy wedding in San Giovanni in Laterano and now they were fighting to capture a dangerous terrorist while struggling to keep the number of the victims to the minimum. I held my breath and looked around for Ethan. He was heading my way and seeing the horror written all over my face because what I was listening to he took me in his arms.

The shivers lasted longer than the actual shootings. I could imagine Lin in her elegant dress hiding behind columns and aiming at the shooter while Jason was taking a more frontal approach.

"Did you get him?" I heard Jason through the cries of pain and hysteric screams in the background.

"He's not getting anywhere except for jail." Lin replied panting lightly.

"It's alright, people, he's in our custody now!"

"Please stay calm and see to the injured ones until the ambulance arrives." their voices alternated on a commanding tone.

"It's alright, they're fine." Ethan murmured in my free ear squeezing me lightly.

Yes, but what about the other people? That's why I hated this job.

I nodded and pulled away out of his embrace. It had only reminded me that his life and mine did not match.

"Wow, that was awesome! Wish I was there…" John said over enthusiastically.

"I don't…" Vesper whispered.

The other pair hadn't said a word in a while and that got Ethan to worry. "Guys, are you still there? Enjoying the show?" he bit back the last part when a rapturous scream erupted over heavy breathing.

"We're here." Mr. Smith grunted.

I remembered that the kinky couple was getting off during fights and I rolled my eyes. These were the people we had to work with.

Still a little shaken up I went to sit on a bench inside the church and I lowered my head pretending to pray. Closing my eyes wouldn't do but I did get a bit of rest like that. It had to be around 5 in the afternoon already and waiting around had turned out to be just as exhausting as doing some real work.

"I tell you, guys, we're wasting our time here." John started soon to complain. He was probably hungry.

I was feeling the same way but Ethan was in charge with the operation and he obviously wanted us to stay put.

"Wait… Vesper, see that man crossing the street… the one that looks funny?"

"Yes?"

"Why does he look familiar to me?" John wondered. "We're going after him." he announced.

I looked at Ethan fearing more catastrophes would happen but he calmly shook his head trusting them completely so I wrapped my arms around myself bracing myself for that was going to happen next.

"Shit, he's bleeding… grab him, grab him, ahhh!" John cursed under his breath when the body hit the marble floor with a thud. "Someone call an ambulance, this man is having a heart attack!" he requested out loud. He went down to check his pulse and heartbeat and the mic hidden in his shirt caught a faint whisper.

"What's that? What did he say?" Ethan paced in place.

"Raphael…" the man repeated with his last breath.

OOOOO

Ethan's phone beeped and putting down his fork he pulled it out and clicked it open.

The operation had been put on after the last of the churches closed for the day. James and Jason along with their partners were at the Agency's Italian headquarters being debriefed. John and Vesper had gone with the injured man to the hospital, where his identity had been confirmed so they stayed not to blow away his cover and sent Ethan all the news from there. Xenia and Mr. Smith had simply disappeared once their job was done.

"It's really him?"

"Yes." Ethan looked again at the photo John had sent him. "And he's still in the coma. Damn! Who's Raphael?"

"I don't know… the only Raphael I can think of is the painter…" I shrugged still under the influence of my visit to the Vatican museum. "I doubt he meant the archangel or the ninja turtle." I smirked. "Or maybe he simply named another agent and we're complicating things." I stated. The spaghetti were good in spite of the cheap looking tavern we had landed in.

"There was an agent called Raphael but he's not working anymore." I bit my lips not to remind him that he wasn't supposed to be working either. "He's dead." he told me catching the meaning of the look.

"Ah…" I lowered my eyes and played with my food.

"It has to be someone else." The question was who?

"Well, we can cut from the list a few thousands of people… he would have said Raffaelo if it was an Italian." I pointed out. "So that leaves us with… just the rest of the world." I deadpanned.

"It's not someone we know and this is Italy…" he mused "I incline to think it's your Raphael."

"Mine?"

"Raphael… Raffaelo Sanzio… the painter."

"Thank you," I smiled and took a sip of wine from my glass "but I don't see how that helps us." The word slipped out before I could think about its meaning. There was no us, we didn't work together, but still we did.

"It has something to do with Raphael."

"He's been dead for almost 500 years." I reminded him.

"His work then…"

"He was a painter and architect," I said recalling the countless number of hours spent browsing my dad's art books "there's a large collection of his stamps at the Vatican and painted walls also, but I don't know where other of his works are, museum perhaps, or buildings… probably in Florence. Is that why you went to Florence?"

"No, it has nothing to do with that, not directly." he shook his head. "My objective is here, in Rome." he declared with determination.

"Then it's not the Vatican museum." Frankly I didn't see how that could be. Why would anyone hide a secret recipe for a deadly poisonous gas in there? It made no sense.

"Then where?" he wondered.

"I have no ide…" I stopped in mid word. "Raphael's tomb is inside of the Pantheon." That Rome British guide I had brought with me was sure good. "I've seen it."

"The Pantheon is in Piazza della Rotonda. There's no Santa Maria church in there." he sounded doubtful.

"There is…" I said weakly "The Pantheon is also called Santa Maria ad Martyres or Santa Maria Rotonda." I had seen an inscription inside but it had just slipped my mind.

"Santa Maria ad Martyres…" he repeated after me. "That would explain why he was at Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. He probably thought I had gotten the directions wrong and being hurt already he couldn't wait any longer and went after me."

"What did he do with the document then? He didn't have it on him, did he?" At least John hadn't reported anything about it though he said he'd searched him.

"He… hid it. We were supposed to meet at the Pantheon, if I had arrived later and missed him I would have normally looked for it." Ethan reasoned. "It's gotta be there!" he had a revelation. "Inside Raphael's tomb."

"Err I don't want to burst your bubble but there's a glass wall in front protecting it. A simple visitor came unprepared couldn't have passed by it in the middle of the day in a room full of people." I argued.

"It doesn't mean he couldn't have hid it somewhere close."

"Well… I guess…" I nodded my head reluctantly "anyway we'll have to wait until tomorrow. It's closed at this hour."

"No, it has to be retrieved tonight before someone else gets to it first." he decided.

"Have you seen those doors? You can't force them and if you try to break them down you'll wake the entire square, which by the way won't be empty until almost morning since it's Saturday." I told him. "There are cameras and all kinds of sensors inside plus an alarm system no doubt. You can't break in through the ground level."

"OK, I'll go in from underneath or from the top…"

"Through the oculus?" I rose my eyebrows at him.

"Right, the Pantheon is the one with the opening in the ceiling…" he smirked and I regretted ever mentioning it.

"The whole structure is 40 m tall. How will you get up there? Do you have a helicopter just waiting for your call? And what about the noise?"

"No, they cut our founds great deal… James lost his car too, and Mr. Smith is eating carrots, didn't you see?" he joked. "No, we can always climb."

I sighed and dropped my head in my hands. "Whatever…" I mumbled, at least he didn't need me there.

"Finish up, we're going in." he grinned excited.

OOOOO

I have to say I felt like a burglar. The way the four silhouettes dressed in black roamed around the fountain in the middle of the square would have looked at least a bit suspicious for anyone who looked outside of one of the windows surrounding the square. Lucky for us normal people were asleep in their beds at 3:30 in the morning.

"OK, I'm going up." Ethan announced on a low voice. "Stay on guard." he ordered Mr. Smith and Xenia. They had been the only ones available for the job, and while they weren't the only ones wearing a gun, yes, he'd shoved one in my hand before leaving the apartment for our night expedition, he knew that with the little experience I had in that field he couldn't count on me in case we were attacked and had to defend ourselves. I was a liability but he didn't have enough men, according to him he would have needed two more and had to settle for me. Boy, didn't I feel appreciated? Not.

Ethan climbed on the edge of the fountain, jumped on the base of the obelisk erected from its middle and started a slow climbing towards the top. I just hoped it wasn't going to collapse under his weight. Hidden in the entrance of a building and from the top of the roof of a building on the other side of the square, Mr. Smith and Xenia were in position supervising the entire action and ready to fire their silent guns at the first sign. Only I was watching. The moonlight was making the whole sight look a bit eerie.

"I'm up." Ethan announced in our ear pieces.

He found some sort of equilibrium close to the top, as far up as he dared go without risking to have the old obelisk fall into pieces under his weight, and he prepared to launch the cord he planned to attach to the edge of the oculus. Just the moment he set off the launching device it occurred to me that maybe that round opening in the ceiling wasn't that open as it seemed to be when you looked up from the inside. I mean who mopped the floors when it rained? What if there was glass covering it? I cringed and braced myself, too late to warn him, and I waited for the impact. There was no sound of broken glass. In the silence reigning in the square at that late hour of the night it would have sounded like a cannon ball being fired. Ethan pulled on the cord to test its resistance and satisfied it had gotten attached well from the first attempt he tied the other end to the top of the obelisk.

"I'll wave at you from on top." he murmured before starting to move along the cord holding with both arms and legs onto it.

I shivered watching him, he looked so defenseless up there. Anyone could shoot to take him down and he would be unable to protect himself. For now the square was quiet, no intruders, and I hoped it was going to remain that way until we were done.

He reached the roof and had to climb on the cupola that was higher up in the air. The cord guided him towards the top and he stopped to wave at us indeed.

"Ready to deactivate the sensors." he reported.

With half of his body laying on the outside his upper half lowered through the opening to look inside. Since the only source of light was the moon and it had passed its apex he couldn't see much. The spot of his flashlight glided around the cupola to make sure it was clear. He was contented to see the sensors were placed around its base.

Another cord was attached to the edge of the opening and he went down on it until he reached the sensors level. He pulled out the small device meant to produce an electrostatic interference powerful enough to deactivate the sensors for a whole twenty minutes. When he tried to turn it on nothing happened. The led refused to blink.

"Fuck!" he swore. "It's not working."

"What's not working?" Mr. Smith grunted.

"I can't turn the sensors off. This thing is broken. I have no power."

"Has anyone checked the batteries?" Xenia asked.

Errr… one would imagine you don't have to test it when such an expensive device is entrusted to you.

"Wait. I'll go get some." Mr. Smith left his position to go vandalize the first shop he found. Nice to have such resourceful men around.

He returned after ten minutes. "Got them."

Now the question was how to get them to Ethan. We didn't have another cord, the one tied to the obelisk couldn't be released without cutting it, and the one Ethan was hanging on inside the Pantheon did reach the ground in straight line but not otherwise. Someone had to take them to him.

"I can't climb, I pulled a muscle in my leg today." Xenia said. Such confession would have made me blush if I had been in her place, but no, not her.

Mr. Smith's confession was more on the hilarious side. "I'm afraid of heights."

I could feel their eyes piercing the darkness as they looked in my direction but it was the bark in my ear that got me moving. "Get your butt up here before the sun comes up!" Yes, sir!

I managed to get to the obelisk without taking a bath in the fountain but that turned out to be the easiest part. The climbing was much harder. Not being used to work with gloves, all my gymnastic training had been done with bare hands back in the days, I had to take them off. Muscles protested, my upper body strength had decreased once I had stopped my gymnastic training, and skating didn't require the same amount, not mentioning the fact that it hadn't been that great to begin with.

Cursing silently to save my breath I got to the cord and proceeded to the more oblique climbing. It felt like it took forever to reach the roof and even longer to get to the oculus where Ethan was waiting since I was already tired.

I handed him the batteries without a word being too busy panting for air and I sat on the cupola watching him as he replaced the old ones.

"OK, it's working." I saw the small green light coming to life. "I'm going in."

He did so but I didn't hurry to go back yet. Who knew what else he might still need?

The small screen showed that everything functioned well this time and with the sensors, and especially the cameras, off Ethan lowered himself to the ground.

"Should have brought a stronger flashlight." he muttered.

"Turn on the lights. No one will see it, there are no other openings except for the one in the ceiling." I told him. See the good part of being a dedicated tourist? The lights weren't strong either, hardly enough to lit up the large interior of the Pantheon but it would help some.

Several minutes had passed since we'd heard something from our guardians in the square and that was never a good sign. Then we heard a gasp and an 'ouf'.

"Please tell me they're not at it again." Ethan grumbled still looking for the switches.

"Err… let me see…" I mumbled moving to the side so I could see what was going on inside the square.

"Watch out!" Mr. Smith growled a warning.

"They seem to be fighting…" I reported.

"Xenia, what's going on?" Ethan demanded an answer.

"Agent Smith… found us…" her slightly out of breath voice came to us. "Ahhhh! Son of a bitch…" she swore.

Oups. I was actually glad I was up there and out of reach. I didn't fancy the idea of getting into a fight, not at all, especially not with a killer. I liked my life too much to do that. Better let the ones who were trained to fight do it. I looked down through the oculus to see the lights on and then turned my attention back to the action in the square.

Inside Ethan was moving around the tomb fervent but very quizzical in his investigation. The actual tomb was indeed separated by a glass wall and it didn't look easy to get to the content even if you were a specialist. She had been right, his contact definitely hadn't had access inside. Checking the immediate surroundings then. The statue above revealed nothing new, not even some dust.

Getting back down on the floor Ethan took a step back and looked at the ensemble. Sometime distancing himself from the problem made the solution more obvious. There were two oval carvings, one on each side of the tomb, placed at the same level like the statue. The one on the right was empty, maybe something had been there at some point but it was empty now. The other one held a black bust of Raphael. Uh-huh.

Back up on top of the tomb Ethan reached with his arm between the column and the wall to get to the bust. It wasn't easy but there was no other way to reach it. He didn't stop to wonder how his contact had done it, his fingers had found something in the back and surprised by the solid shape he carefully pulled his arm back holding the small box in his hand.

"I've found it." he announced with a hollow voice.

The news gave an extra impulse to the two mighty fighters outside and through some grunts and huffs, and a couple of muffled shots, came the victory. "We've got him!"

"Ethan?" Xenia insisted when the leader failed to acknowledge them "Did you hear it? We got him… and he's still alive." she said disgusted.

"Yes… OK… everyone alright? Any injuries?" he inquired like a good team leader that he was.

"Nah… just some scratches…" Mr. Smith said laconically. He could be losing blood from all sort of wounds but as ever it was hard to tell.

"Good… clean all traces from the place and take him to the base. We'll be down shortly."

Listening to his order I understood that I had to stay put and I wondered why. I was far from imagining what was the reason behind that.

"Are they gone?" he asked a few moments later after the other two had left the square dragging a semi-conscious Agent Smith with them.

"It looks like it…" I answered.

"Umm… we have a problem…" Ethan said "it seems there was a miscommunication issue… he wasn't bringing the formula, he was bringing a sample." Oh, shit. "I have it right here in my hand."

Oh, shit? Why did I have a feeling this was much worse?

"I can't take it to the lab. It's not just that it's risky to take it out the way I got in, but I don't trust giving it to anyone. It's too dangerous stuff."

"I understand… so what are you going to do?" I sighed looking up to the sky. It would have been too good to be true.

"I'm going to deactivate it."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "But you said it's lethal… how can you do that?" And more exactly how he could do it in there when all he had at hand were relics, statues and paintings.

"Its fuel it's oxygen… what kills the oxygen?"

"Fire."

"Right. I'm gonna burn it."

Oh, God… "Can I get away from here first?" I mumbled.

"No use… if I fail the entire old city of Rome will be left soulless…"

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"…so you better start praying."

"To whom?" I wondered. The Pantheon had been initially designed as a temple for all the gods. Now it was dedicated to Santa Maria, the Virgin Mary. And I didn't pray. Tough luck. "Need a lighter?"

"I could use one."

I reached into my pocket and let the shiny lighter drop through the oculus. "Catch!" Thank you, Mr. James Bond.

"Thanks."

"See you in heaven." I tried a joke.

"I doubt that…" he muttered concentrated on other things.

He was working on opening one of the fake candle boxes. They weren't lit but all he needed was one of the tubes. He extracted a long one and emptied it of its content. The small container was going to do just fine. But the vial was sealed and his plan didn't allow a direct way of opening it. Out of his gun he pulled out two bullets and after a second of thinking a third one too. He used his knife to open them and gathered the small amount of gun powder inside a piece of paper he found in a pocket and then he pulled a thread from his shirt to attach the miniature bomb to the vial. He carefully pushed the vial of gas to the bottom of the tube and picked up a real candle that he lit. No, this wouldn't do, he needed both hands, he realised.

Ethan sat on the floor with the tube held between his thighs and a lit candle in each hand. He shoved one of them into the tube until the burning end reached the vial and used the second candle to drop hot wax around the candle sealing the space separating it from the tube walls. He just hoped there was enough air left inside for the candle not to die before the reaction in the gas took place.

A small commotion shook the end of the tube, though not strong enough to break the plastic. The gun powder blew up breaking the glass and the fire intensified lightening up the tube for a brief moment while the gas burned along with the oxygen. And then the candle faded away, so fast that the tube hadn't even had time to warm up.

Ethan let out a sigh. He couldn't know if there was still poisoning gas inside. His chemistry knowledge didn't go that far, but there was a small chance for the gas to have burned before reacting with the oxygen. If the gas remained then it meant his little experiment had failed. He couldn't afford to let anyone check the results for him, he had to do it himself.

He put the tube on the marble floor and crushed it with his heel. The smell that enveloped him invading his lungs made him burst into a choking fit of cough. His eyes burned and his chest hurt like squeezed by an iron claw, so hard that he fell down on his knees.

"Ethan?… Ethan, are you alright? What happened?"

As the tears that had drowned his eyes fell and his vision cleared he found himself laying on his back on the cold floor and staring at the hole in the ceiling. A human-like shape somewhat darker than the sky was obtruding a small part of it.

"Are you an angel?"

"That's very unlikely…" I chuckled. "How long do I still have to hold my breath? I'm starting to turn blue here."

"It's done."

Wheee…

"Are you coming up?" I checked my watch, there weren't that many minutes left until the sensors would start working again.

"In a bit… I can't move."

"What?!" I panicked.

"I think it paralyzed my muscles… and busted my lungs and eyes… but the fine motor skills seem to be fine…" he clinically diagnosed the results "which is alright… arghhh…" he groaned as he tried to pull himself up. "I so don't like this part. Remind me to ask for a raise tomorrow… where the hell is that cord?" he mumbled.

"Here." I wiggled my end but he only found it when he ran with his head into it.

"Found it."

His climbing was much slower than the descent and I had to grab him by the shoulders and pull him out of the oculus.

"Oh, you're still there?…" he looked back in "Fuck, I forgot the lights."

"You're not the one who pays the bills." I replied. "Can we go? The sun should be up soon…"

"God, I so hate hanging upside down…" he muttered seriously doubting he'd be able to do it this particular time but reached for the cord anyway.

"I forgot to tell you… the cord got cut during the fight. It's not attached to the obelisk any longer, it's hanging right down." I told him.

"Wait…" he stopped me his brain obviously functioning better than the rest of his system. "That cord alone doesn't reach the ground…"

"It's alright, we'll tie the other one at the end, it should be enough."

And so we did. He insisted to go first although he couldn't see five meters ahead of him, but there was only one way down and we reached the ground without further problems. The dawns were creeping out from around the buildings and we heard the vehicles that swept the streets in the distance.

We gathered the cords together but when I showed him the bit left handing along the obelisk he shrugged a hand. "Leave it there… maybe they'll think someone tried to hang himself during the night." Beside there was no time left to climb after it, we could be seen while doing it.

Hiding behind one of the massive columns in front of the Pantheon we fixed our appearance not to look like burglars on our way to the apartment. I took off the black top remaining in a white t-shirt I had underneath, I rolled the pants up to my knees and dropped the things I didn't need, like the gun, in his shoulder bag. Ethan also got rid of the top, dropped the gloves and all the gadgets he had with him in there and reached for my hand staggering lightly on his feet.

"Are you coming home with me or do you want me to look for a cab?" I asked noticing he wasn't too sure on his moves.

"The job's done, they can wait for the debriefing until tomorrow. But you can stop a cab if you see one…"

"With one condition… you stay out of my sight tomorrow. I have one last day of vacation left and I want to enjoy it." I demanded vehemently.

"Deal." he smirked. "In case you haven't noticed, it's tomorrow already."

But Ethan did keep his promise. He fell on the bed when we arrived at the apartment and slept for 24 hours straight. He woke up the next morning just in time to help me carry my luggage to the car that was taking me to the airport. We didn't get to talk much so things were going to be interesting when he returned home as he said he would. Especially if he asked what I had been doing during those last 24 hours.

The End


End file.
